Still Being Used
by riversong15
Summary: Wyatt was no substitute to Brandon. He was just Wyatt. And that's all she needed for a while. Wyatt is one of my favorite characters and I always saw him as a friend to Callie. This is my first story and dear Lord I am terrified to put this up.


Callie hopes that if she had never met Brandon she would be dating Wyatt. She would have tried it. Dated Wyatt until they realized they were much better as friends. Because as Wyatt said before "You might be a little too screwed up. Even for me."

To her, Wyatt was the perfect friend, someone to bring her happiness throughout the day. His jokes and his smile made her feel something close to romance for him, but not nearly as overwhelmed when she caught Brandon looking at her.

Wyatt was "hot" and refreshing to be around. She didn't have to force herself to hang out with him and nor did she force herself to kiss him. It was nice kissing him, not slobbery and never putting his hands where he shouldn't. But when she imagines running her hands through her foster brother's thick, curly, short locks instead of the dirty blond waves of her "boyfriend", it gave her goose bumps on her arms and left her wondering what was wrong with her.

She's afraid that if she were able to choose, she would find out she was just using Wyatt that her feelings for him were really just a determination to not fall for Brandon like she knew she was doing.

And despite Brandon's assumption that Wyatt was a bad guy, Callie knew that he was one of the only people she ever got along with and knew at some degree how she felt about life, about how unfair things were for some people. And she really did care about him. Both boys were so alike in character; she could trust them both to help her.

Yet, only one knew how messed up her life really was. Only one heard her confess her darkest secret and helped her tell Stef and Lena.

The other one got frustrated when Callie vaguely described her past with Liam.

She wishes she could ask her mother what to do, but if her mother were alive, she wouldn't have this problem.

In fact, her mother would probably choose the smart, talented, handsome piano prodigy over the "bad boy" hair model.

Callie knows if she had the choice, she would to.

When Wyatt practically fell apart at his house party, Callie stopped him from destroying his house during his fit of rage. As she held him in her arms and comforted him, she felt same way she did when Jude was little and would cry himself to sleep. It was this overwhelming urge to protect him that made her kiss him, trying one last time to feel something that wasn't friendly or sisterly and when he pulled away to remove the artwork from his wall, it took all she could not to break down and cry, for nothing she could do could make her love him differently.

She couldn't understand how the boy she wants to be with is technically her brother and the boy that reminds her of her brother is the one she is with.

After he helped her get out of the party with a drunk Marianna hanging off of her side, she decided that she would try to fall for him, at least until she could figure out what she was going to do with him. It seemed like she had a solution when she told him to leave after he attacked Liam, but then Brandon stepped in and she ended up admitting one of her biggest secrets and letting down her walls once again, something she couldn't do with Wyatt even when she wanted to.

She felt so relieved when Wyatt showed up on their first official date, and couldn't help but smile when they continued to cuddle and joke around. She knew she could do this, let this friendship be enough, even develop some real feelings for him. But when Brandon arrived home and she learned he was with Talya, the crushing feeling on her heart got heavier and she was grateful for the knock on the door to give her something else to talk about than their current relationship statuses.

When she found out what happened to Stef, she knew she had to be there for Brandon, especially if the worst possible outcome were to happen. She let herself talk to him about him and his siblings and thought that Brandon would be too preoccupied with the current situation to do anything remotely romantic.

When she got up to make comfort food for the family, she did not find it surprising when she opened up to Brandon for the fourth time about her past. Nor did she mistake the look in his eye and him pushing her hair behind her ear as the same kind of comfort one would get from biscuits and gravy. When Wyatt came in with donuts, it made her happy to see Brandon thank him but also made her question why he didn't have his usual animosity

The way Wyatt calmly told her to go for Brandon almost made her want to deny her feelings, just because she was so used to it and so that he could be happy. But she quickly realizes that he doesn't want to be happy. He wants her to be happy, and to deny his request would only make him angry. They were so much the same, their self-sacrifice, their messed up lives, the way they hide their hurt, and it scared her to realize that she could do something for herself now. She only hoped Jude would forgive her as she made her way back to the rest of the Fosters with the happiest smile on her face.

As she went over to Brandon, she practically had to restrain herself from running and crushing his lips with hers, but when Talya came and flung her arms around Brandon, Callie could only watch as Brandon happily hugged her back.

It was like getting high, crashing from it all within the 2 minutes, it took to get to the waiting room, and she could only speak short sentences after taking a seat next to Marianna.

At the time when she could have used a distraction from the trial, Wyatt tells her he will be moving to Indiana. While not looking forward to going back to being a loner, she was relieved that she could no longer use Wyatt whenever she needed to forget about her inevitable screw up.

After experiencing so much disappointment, in the trial, her chances with Brandon, and the loss of her friend, Callie found the wedding to be the highlight of the past few years with the happy marriage of Stef and Lena and their surprising announcement. Adoption, a single word with protection, love, and a future all wrapped in one. She gave her own happiness a chance after hearing that Jude's future was to be set in stone with this wonderfully insane grouping of people and repeated Wyatt's phrase "Go for it" as she led Brandon to the back of the house.

The same kind of high from before was even better as she finally let herself give in to Brandon, even if it was only for a few moments. But the crash was even harder as the boy she protected for so long and forgot about only for a few blissful seconds came and went with a furious look on his face.

After that night she decided to go to Wyatt, get one last favor in. It gave her no satisfaction when his car came up besides her, knowing he wouldn't let her wander the streets looking for a free ride. As Wyatt reluctantly drove across state borders, Callie finally spoke for the first time in hours.

"I never said this before, but thanks, for everything. You didn't deserve to be used like that."

Wyatt turns with a sad smile.

"I'm still being used."


End file.
